Electron temperature fluctuations associated with the
weakly coherent mode in the edge of I-mode plasmas
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Citation
White, A.E., P. Phillips, D.G. Whyte, A.E. Hubbard, C. Sung,
J.W. Hughes, A. Dominguez, J. Terry, and I. Cziegler. “Electron
temperature fluctuations associated with the weakly coherent
mode in the edge of I-mode plasmas.” Nuclear Fusion 51, no. 11
(November 1, 2011): 113005.
As Published
http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/0029-5515/51/11/113005
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IOP Publishing
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Author's final manuscript
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Thu May 26 12:37:21 EDT 2016
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PSFC/JA-11-36
Electron Temperature Fluctuations Associated with
the Weakly Coherent Mode in the Edge
of I-mode Plasmas
White, A.E., Phillips, P*., Whyte, D.G., Hubbard, A.E., Sung, C.,
Hughes, J.W., Dominguez, Terry, J., Cziegler, I.
* University of Texas, Austin January, 2012
Plasma Science and Fusion Center
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge MA 02139 USA
This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Grant No. DE-FC0299ER54512-CMOD. Reproduction, translation, publication, use and disposal, in whole
or in part, by or for the United States government is permitted.
Electron Temperature Fluctuations Associated with
the Weakly Coherent Mode in the Edge of I-mode
Plasmas
A. E. White1 , P. Phillips2 , D. G. Whyte1 , A. E. Hubbard1 ,
C. Sung1 , J. W. Hughes1 , A. Dominguez1 , J. Terry1 , I. Cziegler1
1
2
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
University of Texas - Austin, USA
E-mail: whitea@mit.edu
Abstract.
New measurements of electron temperature fluctuations associated with the weakly
coherent mode (WCM) during improved mode, or I-mode plasmas [D. G. Whyte et
al. Nucl. Fus. 50, 105005 (2010)] at Alcator C-Mod [E.S. Marmar et al., Fus. Sci.
Tech. 51, 3261 (2007)] are presented in this paper. The measurements are made with a
32-channel, high-resolution profile ECE radiometer. The WCM electron temperature
fluctuations are localized to a 1 cm region inside the last closed flux surface. The WCM
electron temperature fluctuation level is measured in several different I-mode discharges
and is in the range 1% < T̃e /Te < 2%, which is an order of magnitude smaller than the
WCM density fluctuation level. The WCM edge fluctuations observed in I-mode are
believed to play a role in increasing particle transport but not energy transport in the
edge of I-mode plasmas. The large difference between normalized density and electron
temperature fluctuation amplitudes provides new evidence that the WCM fluctuations
can separately affect energy and particle transport.
Electron Temperature Fluctuations Associated with the WCM in I-mode
2
1. Introduction
The improved mode, or I-mode, regime of operation [1, 2] on Alcator C-Mod [4] is
characterized by the presence of an edge thermal transport barrier and the absence of an
edge particle transport barrier. I-mode, an operating regime distinct from L-mode and
H-mode, allows for high confinement and high pressure but without ELMs and without
impurity accumulation, which makes I-mode of interest for burning plasma regimes.
During I-mode, there is a reduction in low frequency (f < 100 kHz) edge fluctuations
compared to L-mode as well as the presence of the weakly coherent mode (WCM)
oscillation with center frequency 150 < f0 < 250 kHz, and bandwidth ∆f ≈ 100 kHz.
These unique edge turbulence characteristics are observed only during I-mode and are
identified in the autopower spectrum of density fluctuations measured with reflectometer
and Gas Puff Imaging (GPI) diagnostics, as well as in the autopower spectrum of edge
magnetic probe signals [1, 2]. The WCM has density fluctuation levels in the range of
ñ/n = 6?13%, which is at least 10 − 15% above L-mode fluctuation levels [2, 3]. The
WCM is localized to a 1-2 cm region inside the last closed flux surface (LCFS), and
propagates in the electron diamagnetic drift direction [1, 2].
Because I-mode exhibits significant particle transport, with suppressed energy
transport [1], it has been speculated that the edge-localized, WCM electromagnetic
fluctuations play a role in increasing particle transport and regulating the edge pressure
in I-mode [1, 2]. It is important to characterize the amplitudes of fluctuating electrostatic
potential, magnetic field, density and temperature (and the cross-phases between these
fluctuating fields) in order to determine the possible drive mechanisms for the WCM
and the effects on particle and energy transport. While density, temperature and
magnetic fluctuations can all contribute to thermal transport, particle transport due to
electromagnetic drift-wave instabilities is typically associated with density and magnetic
fluctuations [5, 6, 7].
During I-mode, the presence of the WCM correlates with reduced thermal
transport, with no accompanying reduction in particle transport. If the WCM is
a typical drift-wave type instability with both density and temperature fluctuations
associated with it, and these fluctuations are in phase with the potential fluctuations of
the WCM so that they both contribute to transport (e.g. see Eqns. 4 and 7 of Ref. [7]),
then the separation between the two transport channels could be explained, at least in
part, if the temperature fluctuation amplitude of the WCM were lower than the density
fluctuation amplitude of the WCM. This is because both density and temperature
fluctuations can drive the thermal transport, but only the density fluctuations drive the
particle transport. There is a proposed drift-wave type instability that could explain
the WCM - the heavy particle mode [9, 10, 11, 12]. The heavy particle mode driving the
observed WCM would be consistent with the presence of significant density fluctuations
and relatively weak or negligible temperature fluctuations.
The previous studies of the WCM in I-mode at Alcator C-Mod pointed out
the critical need to quantify the temperature fluctuations, but no measurements of
Electron Temperature Fluctuations Associated with the WCM in I-mode
3
temperature fluctuations were available. Since these experiments, the 32-channel high
resolution Electron Cyclotron Emission (ECE) profile radiometer [8] at Alcator C-Mod
has been upgraded to allow for new, detailed measurements of the WCM. Temperature
fluctuations associated with the WCM have been clearly observed in the autopower
spectrum, cross-spectrum and coherency spectrum of fast-sampled ECE radiometer
signals.
In this paper, we present the first measurements of electron temperature
fluctuations associated with the weakly coherent mode (WCM) in the edge of I-mode
plasmas. The measurements show that the electron temperature fluctuation amplitude
associated with the WCM is in the range 1% < T̃e /Te < 2%. During L-mode, only
an upper limit can be placed on the fluctuation level in the same frequency range,
(T̃e /Te )upper < 0.5%, which indicates that the I-mode WCM electron temperature
fluctuation level is at least a factor of two above L-mode fluctuation levels. The ECE
radiometer measurements show that the WCM is highly localized to a narrow < 1 cm
region inside the LCFS, consistent with measurements of WCM density fluctuations
with reflectometer and GPI [2]. Quantitative measurements of electron temperature
fluctuations associated with WCM are important for guiding modeling and theory for the
WCM, and for planning future experiments at C-Mod and other tokamaks. Measuring
the electron temperature fluctuations is also important for identifying the underlying
instability responsible for the observed WCM fluctuations.
2. Experimental Set-Up
2.1. High resolution radiometer
The 32-channel radiometer at Alcator C-mod [8] is used to measure the electron
temperature fluctuations associated with the WCM. The radiometer is measuring the
radiation temperature, Trad , of the 2nd harmonic electron cyclotron emission (ECE)
[13]. When detecting optically thick ECE on the low field side of the tokamak with the
angle of view roughly perpendicular to the total magnetic field direction, the measured
radiation temperature, Trad , can be confidently identified as the electron temperature
Te . Because of the 1/R dependence of the magnetic field in a tokamak, B(R) ≈ Bo Ro /R,
where R is the major radius, Bo is the field on axis at Ro = R, the frequency of cyclotron
emission also varies with 1/R and there is a direct relation between frequency resolved
measurements of the intensity and the radial location of emission.
The spatial resolution of the radiometer has been described in detail previously
[8, 14, 15]. Poloidal resolution is determined by the focusing optics, which produce a
spot-size in the plasma of roughly 3 cm. Because the system views the plasma at an angle
of 20o degrees below the midplane [15], radial resolution is limited by the overlap of the
poloidal spot-size onto neighboring flux surfaces, but also depends on a combination of
the intermediate frequency (IF) filter bandwidth and relativistic line broadening. These
effects result in radial resolution of ∆R ≤ 1 cm in the edge plasma. Corresponding
Electron Temperature Fluctuations Associated with the WCM in I-mode
4
wavenumber sensitivity to fluctuations is kθ < 5.1 cm−1 and kx < 5.6 cm−1 , where
x denotes the direction of line-of-sight of the radiometer. The radial location for a Te
measurement is selected by the center frequency of the IF filter, and in the present system
the IF filters sample disjoint frequency bands, separated center-to-center by 2.2 GHz.
The bandwidth of the IF filters is BIF = 1.5 GHz, the video bandwidth is BV ID = 1
MHz [8], and the signals are digitized at 2 MHz. In much of the data examined here,
there are narrow (∆f < 3 kHz) noise peaks present in the radiometer signals. This
electronics noise is not a plasma effect and is correlated across all radiometer channels.
These noise peaks can be filtered out and do not inhibit the measurement of the WCM
fluctuation spectrum or measurements of the electron temperature fluctuation level.
A single ECE radiometer channel will beq sensitive to narrowband fluctuations
(Bsig < BV ID ) that are above the level δT /T = Bsig /BIF , where Bsig is the bandwidth
of the signal [16]. In the case of I-mode measurements of the WCM the full width at
half maximum (FWHM) frequency width of the mode has been reported to be between
50 − 100 kHz [1]. The video bandwidth of the radiometer is set by hardware at a
maximum of 1M Hz. This means that for the Alcator C-Mod radiometer it is true
that Bsig < BV ID and a single ECE radiometer channel should be sensitive to WCM
electron temperature fluctuations as long as δT /T ≥ 0.7 − 1.0%, with this sensitivity
limit depending on the FWHM of the fluctuation spectrum.
With correlation ECE techniques, if two radiometer measurements are made in
disjoint frequency bands, but within the correlation length of the turbulence, then the
thermal noise is suppressed and the temperature fluctuations below the inherent thermal
noise sensitivity limit can be measured [17]. When the WCM cannot be directly observed
in the autopower spectrum, it can be observed with the cross-correlation, the cross-power
and the coherency spectrum calculated between neighboring radiometer channels. But in
contrast to typical correlation ECE measurements [18, 19], for the radiometer used here
it is not true the temperature and temperature fluctuations measured on two channels
are the same, because the channels are not always sampling the same emission layer due
to the center frequency differences between IF filters. When applying correlation ECE
analysis to two radiometer signals, S1 and S2 , that do originate from the same emission
later, the fluctuation level can be calculated from the cross-correlation coefficient, C1,2 , or
the cross-covariance, R1,2 at zero time delay, or by integrating the cross-power spectrum
[20, 19, 16]. When the cross-correlation methods are applied to the C-Mod radiometer,
we are strictly calculating the product of the relative fluctuation levels of the two signals,
e.g. hS1 S2 i ≈ (T̃1 /T1 )(T̃2 /T2 ). From the covariance, Rxy (τ = 0) or from the integrated
cross-power spectrum we can measure (T̃1 /T1 )(T̃2 /T2 ). Obtaining fluctuation levels
from the covariance, cross-power spectrum or autopower spectrum requires calibration
of the radiometer. It is also possible with correlation ECE analysis to measure
fluctuation levels without needing the radiometer calibration by using cross-correlation
coefficient,C1,2 (τ = 0). In this case, (2Bvid /Bif )C1,2 (τ = 0) = (T̃1 /T1 )(T̃2 /T2 ). The
autopower spectrum, cross-power spectrum, coherency spectrum, covariance and crosscorrelation coefficient are all calculated here using standard definitions and techniques
Electron Temperature Fluctuations Associated with the WCM in I-mode
5
[21].
2.2. Edge temperature measurements with ECE radiometry
ECE radiometers are standard tokamak diagnostics capable of measuring radial profiles
of electron temperature with excellent spatial and temporal resolution. However, the
interpretation of the radiometer signal intensity as electron temperature in the edge
and pedestal region is typically limited by low optical depth. The optical depth for the
second harmonic X-mode ECE is given as [22]
τ2x
2
2π 2 Ro ωpe
=
2
λ0 ωce
kTe
me c2
!
(1)
where λ0 = 2πc/ωce and Ro is the major radius of the tokamak. If this limitation
is carefully considered, then radiometer measurements of electron temperature and
temperature fluctuations can be extended to the edge of the plasma. We note that
limits on the use of ECE radiometers to measure edge pedestal temperatures have been
previously quantified [23, 24] and recently ECE radiometers have been used to make
detailed measurements of low-field-side and high-field-side pedestal temperatures on the
JET tokamak [25]. In Alcator C-Mod it is typically the case in I-mode plasmas that the
optical depth is high enough even in the far edge region that an ECE signal can be taken
as a direct measurement of electron temperature. For optical depth 1.5 < τ < 3 the
single-pass emission can be below the blackbody level, but the effect of wall reflections
and multiple-passes increases the intensity to the blackbody level. For this optical
depth range, it has been shown that Te can be obtained rather directly from the ECE
measurements without needing a detailed model of the effects of wall reflections [23]. If
0.6 < τ < 1.5, detailed models of the effects of wall reflections are needed to recover
Te from the measured ECE, and for τ < 0.6 measurements of Te are not possible.
Comparisons with the high resolution edge Thomson Scattering system [26] on C-Mod
provides the capability to cross-check the edge ECE radiometer measurements of Te ,
and the two measurements are in good agreement for the plasmas considered here (e.g.
Figure 1).
If the optical depth is sufficiently high, the radiometer can also be used as an
edge fluctuation diagnostic, which can provide key information about the spectrum
and amplitude of edge electron temperature perturbations. ECE radiometers have
been successfully employed in the edge of tokamaks where the optical depth is low
to measure temperature perturbations associated with ELMs [23, 27]. When measuring
fluctuations, the limits placed on the optical depth are more stringent in order to
avoid contributions from density fluctuations to the measured signal. One contribution
occurs due to density fluctuations modulating the optical depth, which results in
apparent temperature fluctuations in the measured EC emission [28]. This effect
on measurements of temperature fluctuations with radiometers in plasmas that are
marginally optically thick has been modeled previously [28, 29, 30] and it can be shown
that when τ > 3 − 4 estimated effects of even large (> 10%) density fluctuations are
Electron Temperature Fluctuations Associated with the WCM in I-mode
6
typically neglibible. Various other mechanisms give rise to additional contributions to
the measured temperature fluctuations due to both density and magnetic fluctuations
and these effects have been discussed and modeled [30]. We note that without detailed
information on the density fluctuation amplitude, local magnetic field fluctuation
amplitude, and the phases between the fluctuating fields, the estimates are used only to
provide an upper limit on contributions from density and magnetic field fluctuations to
the measured radiation temperature fluctuations.
3. Experimental Results
3.1. I-mode plasma parameters
I-mode plasmas at Alcator C-Mod are characterized by steep edge pedestals in
temperature, but not in density. In I-mode the normalized energy confinement and
stored energy are comparable to H-mode plasmas at Alcator C-Mod and steady Imodes (> 10 confinement times) are regularly achieved at C-Mod [2] and have been
studied across a wide range of parameters (3 < Bt < 6 T, 0.7 < Ip < 1.3 MA,
0.86 ≤ hne i ≤ 2.05 × 1020 m−3 ). In this work, several I-mode shots that exhibited clear
WCM fluctuations are examined. Plasma parameters are shown for a representative
I-mode shot (1101209012) in Fig. 1 with toroidal field, BT = 5.7 T, plasma current,
Ip = 1.1 MA, edge safety factor q95 = 3.8, with 3.1 MW of ion cyclotron resonance
heating (ICRH) power. Figure 1 shows the input RF-power and the increase in core
temperature, edge temperature, and stored energy that occur during the I-mode phase
(0.7 < t < 1.5 sec) of the discharge. Across the L-I transition (tLI ≈ 0.75 sec), there is
little to no change in line averaged density and local edge density. The I-mode transition
is identified by the significant increases in core temperature, edge temperature, and
stored energy and also by the appearance of the WCM in the edge plasma. During the
I-mode phase between t = 0.8−1.5 sec the line averaged density is hne i = 1.25×1020 m−3 ,
the central density is ne (0) = 2.14×1020 m−3 , and the central temperature is Te (0) ≈ 4.0
keV. Later in the shot when the RF power is turned off, the plasma transitions back
into L-mode. As shown in Fig. 2, the density profiles during I-mode and L-mode
are similar, but during I-mode there is a large increase in edge temperature and a steep
electron temperature gradient. Edge Thomson Scattering and ECE data from a Grating
Polychrometer diagnostic are fit with a modified tanh function [31]. The fits to the edge
profiles are used to calculate the profiles of the optical depth in the edge region. In Fig.
2, (a) profiles of edge electron temperature and (b) density are shown for the L-mode
(black-triangles) phase and the I-mode phase (red-asterisk) of discharge 1101209012.
Shown in Fig. 2 (c), the optical depth in I-mode (red) just ∼ 5 mm inside the LCFS is
τ ≥ 4, which is significantly higher than L-mode (black) where τ ≈ 1 at the same radial
location.
Using magnetics-constrained EFIT equilibrium reconstruction, the edge radiometer
measurement locations are mapped to the midplane. For these plasmas, after mapping to
Electron Temperature Fluctuations Associated with the WCM in I-mode
7
the midplane, the typical measurement locations are as follows: channel 2 (fece = 237.3
GHz) is at R = 90.9 cm, r/a = 1.07; channel 3 (fece = 239.6 GHz) is at R = 90.1 cm,
r/a = 1.02; channel 4 (fece = 241.8 GHz) is at R = 89.4 cm, r/a = 0.98; channel 5
(fece = 244.1 GHz ) is at R = 88.7 cm, r/a = 0.93; where the minor radius a = 22 cm.
An ECE measurement location for a fixed frequency depends only on total magnetic
field and is constant during the entire current flattop and during the I-mode phase of
interest.
In all shots considered here and at all times of interest the optical depth at the
radiometer channel 4 measurement locations has τ ≥ 2. The WCM is radially localized
to the region of the plasma where gradients in density and temperature are large and τ
can vary significantly within the narrow 1 cm region inside the LCFS where the WCM
is observed. The error in the optical depth is estimated at 20% and is dominated by the
random error in the measured temperature and density profiles.
3.2. Spectral Features of the WCM
The WCM fluctuations during I-mode are clearly seen in shot 1101209012. The
contour autopower spectra plotted versus frequency and time for edge ECE radiometer,
reflectometer and magnetics signals are shown in Fig. 3. The transition from L-mode
to I-mode occurs at t ≈ 0.7 sec. A transition back into L-mode occurs at t ≈ 1.4 sec
after RF power is turned off. The WCM is clearly seen during the long I-mode phase
of the shot in the autopower spectra of magnetics signals (a), a reflectometer signal at
R = 89.6 cm (b), and a radiomometer signal at R = 89.4 cm (c). The WCM spectral
features in magnetic, density, electron temperature fluctuations are similar. The WCM
has center frequency fcenter ≈ 220 kHz and δfF W HM ≈ 50 kHz during the long I-mode
phase. Figure 3 (d) shows the temperature fluctuation amplitude as a function of time,
measured with the radiometer signal shown in Fig. 3 (c). The fluctuation level is
calculated using a 50 ms sliding time average, and the data points shown correspond to
the center of the time window. The red dashed line indicates the radiometer sensitivity
limit in this case. During L-mode, t < 0.7 s and t > 1.4 s, the temperature fluctuations,
either of a broadband nature or limited to the WCM frequency band, cannot be resolved.
This lack of measured fluctuations in L-mode is most likely due to the sensitivity limit
of the radiometer. A detailed description of how the fluctuation amplitude is calculated
is given in Section 3.4.
As seen in Figure 3 (c), the temperature fluctuation spectral has δfF W HM ≈ 50
kHz for the WCM in this case. Then the temperature fluctuations must have amplitude
δT /T ≥ 0.7% during I-mode to be detected. Based on reflectometer measurements
during L-mode, the spectrum of edge fluctuations is much broader than the WCM
in I-mode. If we take the δfF W HM ≈ 250 kHz during L-mode, then temperature
fluctuations must have amplitude δT /T ≥ 1.6% during L-mode to be detected. This
indicates that broadband edge temperature fluctuations during L-mode are at least a
factor of two lower in amplitude than the WCM temperature fluctuations during I-
Electron Temperature Fluctuations Associated with the WCM in I-mode
8
mode. One caveat is that we have assumed the spectral shape of the temperature
fluctuations during L-mode is the same as the density fluctuation spectrum, which
may not be true. One consequence of the sensitivity limit is that the reduction of
low-frequency fluctuations accompanying the emergence of the WCM that is observed
with reflectometer measurements cannot be assessed in this work with the available
radiometer measurements. Measurements of temperature fluctuations during L-mode,
and measurements of the temperature fluctuation spectral evolution across the L-I-mode
transition, will require the use of a dedicated correlation ECE radiometer [17, 18, 19],
which is currently planned for C-Mod [32].
3.3. Radial Localization of the WCM
Another consequence of the sensitivity limits (Section 2.1) is that the WCM cannot
always be observed in the autopower spectrum of a single radiometer channel. That is,
if δfF W HM ≈ 50 kHz for the WCM and temperature fluctuations have δT /T < 0.7%,
then the WCM temperature fluctuation amplitude is below the thermal-noise limited
sensitivity of a single channel. In these case, the WCM temperature fluctuation spectrum
can often still be observed using the correlation ECE technique [17, 18, 19]. As shown
in Fig. 4 (a), the WCM is seen clearly in the autopower spectrum of one edge ECE
channel, but the WCM is not seen in the power spectrum of a neighboring channel
(b). These spectra are ensemble averages, calculated between t = 0.85 − 1.15 sec. The
coherency between these two ECE channels is shown in Fig. 4 (c). The coherency peaks
at γ = 0.3 at f = 200kHz. In other similar shots, coherency as high as 0.5 has been
measured between edge ECE channels during I-mode.
The WCM is never correlated on more than two radiometer channels, and it is
always correlated between the two channels that are just at the LCFS and roughly 0.5 cm
inside the plasma. The WCM is not observed to be correlated on any other radiometer
channels further inside the LCFS. The ECE sample volumes for the radiometer channels
in the edge do slightly overlap due to the curvature of the flux surfaces and the offmidplane viewing angle of the ECE radiometer [8]. Based on reflectometer and Gas
Puff Imaging measurements of density fluctuations, the radial localization of the WCM
has been reported to extend from roughly 1 cm inside the LCFS to the LCFS [1, 2]. The
radial structure of the WCM temperature fluctuations observed with the radiometer is
consistent with these past observations. In this particular shot,1101209012, during Imode the WCM is correlated between channels 3 and 4, but not between channels 2 and
3 or between channels 4 and 5 (or any other channels that are deeper in the plasma).
3.4. Electron Temperature Fluctuation Amplitude of the WCM
The radiometer channels are calibrated and the relative fluctuation level can be
calculated from the time-averaged autopower spectrum of a radiometer signal, Fig. 4
(a). The spectrum is first integrated between 50 < f < 300 kHz, where the WCM is
observed. The background thermal noise levels, which are approximated by integrating
Electron Temperature Fluctuations Associated with the WCM in I-mode
9
Table 1. Summary of fluctuation amplitude analyses. The autopower spectrum
integrated between 50 − 350 kHz is used to calculate the fluctuation level. The radial
locations, local values of Te , ne , and optical depth, τ , are listed. Also given is the
major radius of the LCFS.
Shot
1101209010
1101209011
1101209012
1101209013
1101209031
Time
(sec)
0.8-1.4
0.8-1.2
0.8-1.4
0.8-1.3
1.2-1.4
T̃e /Te
(%)
1.56%
1.59%
1.37 %
1.42 %
1.11 %
Rmaj
(cm)
89.3
89.3
89.3
89.4
89.5
RLCF S
(cm)
89.6
89.6
89.6
89.6
89.9
r/a
–
0.98
0.98
0.97
0.99
0.97
Te (eV)
(eV)
300
350
350
400
200
ne (1020 m−3 )
(1020 m−3 )
1.3
1.3
1.4
1.3
1.3
τ
–
3.0
3.6
3.8
4.1
2.0
the ECE power spectrum in a neighboring frequency band where the WCM is not
present, 350 < f < 600 kHz, are subtracted to obtain the measured fluctuation level.
For channel 4 between 0.85 < t < 1.25 sec (1101209013), when the mode is seen strongly
in the autopower spectrum, the fluctuation level is T̃e /Te (r/a = 0.98) = 1.44%, which
is above the single channel sensitivity limit, ≈ 0.7%. For the same shot and time, the
fluctuation level between 50 < f < 300 kHz for channel 3 (Fig. 4 (b)) is equivalent to
the integrated thermal noise level (350 < f < 600 kHz). The optical depth at these two
locations is τ ≈ 4 and τ ≈ 1, respectively.
The WCM density fluctuation amplitude (relative to L-mode) is roughly a factor
of three lower than the Quasi-Coherent Mode (QCM) amplitude (relative to L-mode)
[2]. The density fluctuation amplitude of the QCM has been measured in the range
ñ/n = 30 − 50% using Langmuir probes [33, 34]. If we take the QCM amplitude to be
ñ/n ≈ 30 − 50% then the amplitude of the WCM would be ñ/n ≈ 10 − 16%. Recent
GPI measurements have found WCM relative density fluctuation levels in the range of
ñ/n = 6?13% [3], which is consistent with the estimated range based on comparisons
with the measured QCM amplitude hubbard11. Our measurements indicate that the
WCM temperature fluctuation level, T̃e /Te , can be up to an order of magnitude smaller
than the WCM density fluctuation level, ñ/n.
For shot 1101209013, we correlate radiometer channels 4 and 3, averaged over 0.9 <
t < 1.0 sec, and find that Rxy (τ = 0) = (T̃e,4 /Te,4 )(T̃e,3 /Te,3 ) = 0.0117, the integral of the
cross-power spectrum between 50 < f < 300 kHz gives (T̃e,4 /Te,4 )(T̃e,3 /Te,3 ) = 0.0114,
and 2Bvid /Bif Cxy (τ = 0) = (T̃e,4 /Te,4 )(T̃e,3 /Te,3 ) = 0.0111. The value of Rxy (τ = 0)
depends on the calibration of the radiometer, but the value of (2Bvid /Bif )Cxy (τ = 0)
does not. The good agreement between these two calculations confirms that there is
no systematic or calibration error which could lead to a gross over-estimate or underestimate of the fluctuation levels when using the autopower spectra. Using the measured
fluctuation level from the autopower spectrum from channel 4, and the product of the
fluctuation levels from the cross-power spectrum, an upper limit on the fluctuation
level at the channel 3 radial location is inferred. For shot 1101209013, 0.9 < t < 1.0
Electron Temperature Fluctuations Associated with the WCM in I-mode
10
sec, we calculate T̃e,4 /Te,4 = 1.6% and (T̃e,4 /Te,4 )(T̃e,3 /Te,3 ) = 0.0114, which gives
T̃e,3 /Te,3 ≈ 0.7%. Because of the lower optical depth at the channel 3 measurement
location (τ ≈ 1), this value is only an upper limit on the temperature fluctuation level
at that radius. This indicates that the WCM fluctuation amplitude peaks inside the
last closed flux surface, where the optical depth is high, τ > 3, and that there is a finite,
but lower, fluctuation level nearer the LCFS.
3.5. Contributions from Density Fluctuations
For the ECE WCM measurement with channel 4 at r/a ≈ 0.98 in shots 1101209010,
11, 12, and 13, the optical depth is large enough (τ > 3) that density fluctuation
contributions cannot account for the entire measured fluctuation amplitude [28, 29, 30].
In contrast, for measurements when the optical depth is τ ≤ 2, density fluctuations
modulating the optical depth can potentially account for all of the measured fluctuation
level. The contribution of density fluctuations to the measured electron temperature
fluctuations can be modeled as modifications of the optical depth (at constant
temperature) because τ2x is proportional to the product of density and electron
temperature [29, 28]. The contribution of density fluctuations to measured temperature
fluctuations is written as
T̃e
ñe
(2)
T̃m /Tm = [1 + C(τ, ξ)] + C(τ, ξ)
Te
ne
where T̃m /Tm is the measured fluctuation amplitude, T̃e /Te is the electron temperature
fluctuation amplitude, and ñe /ne is the density fluctuation amplitude. Here
τ e−τ
C(τ, ξ) =
1 − e−τ
1 − e−τ
1−ξ
1 − ξe−τ
!
(3)
where τ is the optical depth, and ξ is the wall reflectivity. It is not realistic to neglect
the effects of wall reflections, as these have been shown to significantly enhance the ECE
intensity from optically thin and marginally optically thick harmonics [13] and we take
here ξ = 0.85.
This effect of density fluctuations on the radiometer signals depends very sensitively
on the amplitude of the density fluctuations and the phase angle between density
and electron temperature fluctuations. We assume that the electron temperature
and density fluctuations are perfectly correlated, which means the contribution from
density fluctuations is a maximum. We consider a range of WCM density fluctuation
levels, ñ/n = 5, 10, 15% and 20%, when estimating the possible density fluctuation
contributions to the radiometer measurements. Shown in Fig. 5, the measured
fluctuation level, T̃m /Tm is shown as the black, horizontal dashed line. The solid lines
are the values of T̃e /Te calculated from (Eqn. 2) that correspond to the measured value
for a given optical depth and given density fluctuation level. The differences between
the measured value (horizontal dashed) and the calculated values (solid) lines are due
to contributions from density fluctuations. Here we will call this estimated contribution
from density fluctuations to the measured temperature fluctuation level an effective
Electron Temperature Fluctuations Associated with the WCM in I-mode
11
temperature fluctuation, T̃ef f /Tef f . As shown in Fig. 5, the highest measured level of
T̃m /Tm ≈ 1.6% is considered (see Table 1). With τ = 3.6, density fluctuations contribute
very little to the measured fluctuation level even if WCM ñ/n = 20% (blue), and the
estimated upper bound contribution from density fluctuations modulating the optical
depth is T̃ef f /Tef f ≈ 0.4%.
There are other possible ways that density fluctuations can affect the radiometer
measurements. Another density fluctuation contribution can arise due to variations
in the width of the emission layer due to modifications of the optical depth in a
steep gradient region [30]. As the optical depth fluctuates, due to both density and
temperature fluctuations, then the width of the emission layer will fluctuate, and the
measurement volume is effectively being pushed back and forth across a temperature
gradient, ∇Te , as the extent of layer on the high field side of the resonance location
varies. Additionally, the radiometer views the plasma from 20o degrees below the
midplane [8] and this off-axis viewing angle makes the ECE radiometer signals sensitive
to density fluctuations due to the effects of refraction [35]. Ray-tracing analysis can
be used to assess quantitatively the impact of refraction, but these effects are not
expected to be larger than the optical depth modulation effects already modeled here.
Typically, even with a very large viewing angle as long as the local density in the ECE
measurement region is ne < 0.85nc , where nc is the cut-off density, refractive effects are
negligible [36, 35]. We note that in 5.4T I-mode plasmas, ne << nc . Finally, electron
temperature fluctuations can also arise from magnetic fluctuations giving rise to field line
displacement, which move the ECE measurement volume across a temperature gradient
[30]. Estimates of the magnetic fluctuation level of the WCM have been reported as
δB
= 0.007 − 0.02% [2] based on poloidal magnetic field probes located external to
B
the plasma, but there are no measurements of magnetic field fluctuations in the edge
plasma that could be used to model the effects of δB
= 0.007 − 0.02% on the radiometer
B
measurements. Future modeling work and measurements will be needed in order to
investigate in more detail the possible contributions from magnetic field and density
fluctuations to the measured temperature fluctuations.
4. Conclusions
New edge fluctuation measurements made with the upgraded high-resolution radiometer
at Alcator C-Mod show that electron temperature fluctuations are associated with the
weakly coherent mode (WCM) during I-mode confinement regimes. The WCM electron
temperature fluctuations are localized to a narrow, ≤ 1, cm radial region inside the
LCFS. The measured normalized fluctuation levels are in the range 1% < T̃e /Te < 2%.
This is at least an order of magnitude smaller compared to the estimated WCM density
fluctuation level [33, 34, 2]. The largest source of uncertainty in this result is the low
optical depth in the edge region that introduces the possibility of large WCM density
fluctuations contributing to the measured temperature fluctuation level [28, 29, 30].
We used here a model for the effects of optical depth modulation, which includes
Electron Temperature Fluctuations Associated with the WCM in I-mode
12
the effects of wall reflections [28], in order to estimate possible contributions from
density fluctuations to the measured temperature fluctuations. The model shows that
the density fluctuations cannot account for the majority of the measured temperature
fluctuations in the hot I-mode pedestal, even if ñ/n = 20% and the temperature and
density fluctuations are perfectly in phase.
The measured electron temperature fluctuations associated with the WCM
provide insight into how the WCM fluctuations might separately affect energy and
particle transport during I-mode. For electromagnetic drift-wave turbulence, density,
temperature and magnetic fluctuations can all contribute to thermal transport. But
particle transport is only associated with density and magnetic fluctuations [5, 6,
7]. Given that the appearance of the WCM and associated density and magnetic
fluctuations correlate with reduced thermal transport, with no accompanying reduction
in particle transport, it is reasonable to expect that WCM temperature fluctuation
amplitudes might be lower in I-mode relative to density fluctuations. A proposed driftwave instability that could explain the WCM is the heavy particle mode [9, 10, 11, 12],
which would have large density fluctuations compared to small, even negligible, electron
temperature fluctuations.
Future work will include more detailed measurements of the WCM using the
extensive suite of edge fluctuation diagnostics at Alcator C-Mod. In particular,
Langmuir probe measurements of electron temperature fluctuations are possible in
the edge plasma, and Gas Puff Imaging could also potentially be used to measure
edge temperature fluctuations. These new measurements could be directly compared
to the radiometer measurements. In future experiments, it will also be possible to
correlate the measured magnetic fluctuations and density fluctuations with the measured
temperature fluctuations. Determining if the density and temperature fluctuation
levels peak at the same or slightly offset radial locations will require simultaneous
measurements of localized density and temperature fluctuations, as can be performed
with coupled radiometer and reflectometer diagnostics. Coupled radiometer and
reflectometer diagnostics can also be used to measure the phase angle between density
and electron temperature fluctuations [37], which will provide more information about
the nature of the WCM and will also allow for better estimates of the density fluctuation
contributions to the radiometer measurements.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Ron Parker for supporting the ECE radiometer digitizer
upgrade, Josh Stillerman for helping with the digitizer set-up and testing, and the entire
Alcator C-Mod team for their support of these measurements. This work supported by
the US Department of Energy under DE-FC02-99ER54512-CMOD.
Electron Temperature Fluctuations Associated with the WCM in I-mode
13
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Figures
(1020 m-3)
PRF (MW)
Electron Temperature Fluctuations Associated with the WCM in I-mode
PRF
(a)
2
0
3
2
1
0
5
4
3
2
1
0
1000
800
600
400
200
0
200
150
100
50
0
5
4
3
2
1
0
(keV)
1101209012
ne
(b)
ne (r/a~ 0.95)
Te(0)
(c)
ECE5 (r/a~ 0.93)
TS
(r/a~ 0.95)
ECE4 (r/a~ 0.98)
(d)
Wmhd
(e)
(a.u.)
(kJ)
(eV)
6
4
16
(f )
Dα
0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6
Time (s)
Figure 1. (Colour online) Plasma parameters from Alcator C-Mod discharge
1101209012, showing the input RF-power and the increase in core temperature, edge
temperature, and stored energy that occur during the I-mode phase (0.8 < t < 1.5 sec).
Across the L-I transition (tLI ≈ 0.75 sec), there is little to no change in line averaged
density and edge density. (a) RF power; (b) line averaged density (black-solid) and
edge density (red symbols); (c) central temperature Te(0); (d) edge temperature Te,
measured with Thomson Scattering, r/a ∼ 0.95, (blue symbols) and measured with the
fast ECE radiometer, channel 4 at r/a ∼ 0.98 (black solid) and channel 5 at r/a ∼ 0.93
(red solid); (d) stored energy; (e) edge D-α emission.
Electron Temperature Fluctuations Associated with the WCM in I-mode
17
Te (eV)
(a)
1000
100
ne (10
20
-3
m )
3.0
L-mode
I-mode
1101209012, t = 0.65 sec (L-mode)
t = 1.1 sec (I-mode)
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
20
15
τ2x
(b)
2.5
L-mode
I-mode
(c)
10
5
0
-0.08 -0.06 -0.04 -0.02 0.00 0.02
Radial distance from separatrix (m)
Figure 2. (Colour online)(a) Profiles of edge electron temperature and (b) density are
shown for the L-mode (black-traiangles) phase and the I-mode phase (red-asterisk) of
discharge 1101209012. Thomson scattering and ECE data are fit with a modified tanh
function. Density profiles remain similar in L-mode and I-mode, but there is significant
increase in edge temperature and the formation of a clear edge temperature pedestal
in I-mode. (c) The optical depth is much higher in I-mode (τ > 4) just ∼ 5 mm inside
the separatrix compared to L-mode (τ ≈ 1), which allows for clear measurements of
electron temperature with edge radiometer channels.
Electron Temperature Fluctuations Associated with the WCM in I-mode
Freq (kHz)
500
1101209012
0.25
~
400
(a) Bθ
300
poloidal field coil
(BPT2_GHK)
0.20
0.15
0.10
200
0.05
100
500
Freq (kHz)
400
300
200
18
0.00
0.025
~
(b) ne
0.020
reflectometer
(88 GHz,
R ~ 89.6 cm)
0.015
0.010
0.005
100
0.000
500
Freq (kHz)
400
300
~
(c) Te
1.5x10 -4
radiometer
(ch4,
R ~ 89.3 cm)
1.0x10 -4
200
5.0x10 -5
~
Te / Te (%)
100
2.0
1.0
0
(d)
~
Te / Te
ECE sensitivity limit
0.0
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
Time (sec)
1.2
1.4
Figure 3. (Colour online)Contours of time-resolved autopower spectra from edge
fluctuations showing typical WCM features during I-mode (0.8 < t < 1.5) (a)
Autopower spectrum of an edge poloidal magnetic field probe (b) Autopower spectrum
of an edge reflectometer signal (fo−mode = 88 GHz, R = 89.6 cm). (c) Autopower
spectrum of edge ECE radiometer channel 4 (fece = 241.8 GHz, R = 89.3 cm). (d)
Temperature fluctuation level, T̃e /Te (%) , in time at the edge of the plasma, calculated
from the radiometer channel 4.The sensitivity limit is shown as the red dashed line.
~
~
Autopower Spectrum ((Te /Te ) / Hz) Autopower Spectrum ((Te /Te ) / Hz)
Electron Temperature Fluctuations Associated with the WCM in I-mode
10 -8
19
1101209012, t = 0.85-1.15 sec, Radiometer
Channel 4 (a)
10 -9
10 -10
10 -8
Channel 3 (b)
10 -9
10 -10
0.5
Coherency (c)
Channel 4-Channel 3
Coherency
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0.0
30 100
200
300
400
500
600
f (kHz)
Figure 4. (a) Autopower spectrum of radiometer channel 4 (r/a ≈ 0.98) showing
the WCM. (b) Autopower spectrum of radiometer channel 3 (r/a ≈ 1.00). The WCM
fluctuation level is below the single channel sensitivity at this radius. (c) Coherence
spectrum between radiometer channels 3 and 4, showing the WCM correlated on the
two channels.
Electron Temperature Fluctuations Associated with the WCM in I-mode
2.0
20
~
~
Te / Te (%)
Trad/Trad (%)
1.5
1.0
~
0.5
0.0
1
ne/ne (%) = 5%
ne/ne (%) = 10%
~
ne/ne (%) = 15%
~
ne/ne (%) = 20%
~
2
3
4
optical depth
5
6
τ
Figure 5. (Colour online) Modeled values of T̃e /Te with density fluctuation levels of
ñe /ne = 5% (black, squares), 10% (green, asterisks), ñe /ne = 15% (blue, diamonds)
and 20% (red, triangles) plotted versus optical depth, τ . The horizontal dashed line
labels the measured fluctuation level, T̃m /Tm = 1.6%. For optical depths above
τ = 4.5, T̃e /Te ≈ T̃m /Tm , showing that density fluctuations do not contribute to
the measured fluctuation level.